Some say that rape across the country, including at Penn, is a far more prevalent crime than is generally thought.
And last night at W.E.B. DuBois College House, African-American feminist and lesbian activist Aishah Shahidah Simmons drove that point home with her presentation of "NO!," a documentary describing the disturbing causes, effects and reactions to acquaintance rape in the black community.
About 50 people attended the screening, which was sponsored by numerous groups, including the United Minorities Council, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Simmons herself was a rape and incest victim, but that only inspired her activism. She said she sees acquaintance rape as a complex issue.
Penn Women's Center Associate Director Gloria Gay said that the crime is a concern on campus, and said that there are rapes on campus every year.
"Acquaintance rape is happening on this campus," Gay added.
The documentary contained moving interviews with several rape victims talking intimately about their experiences. Many had been raped while in college or at an even younger age.
Students in attendance said they were profoundly affected by what they saw.
"I couldn't describe how I felt... all the shudders that ran through me when I saw that," one student said after viewing the movie.
"It made me think very differently," said Crystal Lacey, president of Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Some were surprised at the connections in the film between the problem and slavery in America.
"I didn't realize all the ties into slavery," added Engineering sophomore Lionel Anderson, an Alpha Phi Alpha brother.
The documentary claimed that even now, some black men view women's rights as a distraction from the fight against racism.
"It's something that always gets hushed," Anderson said.
The video cited examples of this attitude causing men to blame women themselves for being raped, particularly in the case of boxer Mike Tyson, who served three years in prison after being convicted of rape in 1992.
"Mike Tyson and [Supreme Court justice] Clarence Thomas started me thinking about NO!" Simmons said. At the time, some black leaders called Tyson's victim, Desiree Washington, stupid for agreeing to come up to his hotel room and said she should have known the consequences.
Several rape victims shown in the video said they also believed Washington made a mistake. But Simmons said, "sexual assault should not be a penalty for poor judgement."
Even though the documentary awaits post-production, students and staff said they found it shockingly educational.
"I thought it was very, very powerful," Gay said. "There's nothing like the individual telling their own story."
"It was very candid -- sometimes, to get a message across, you have to be," said African-American Resource Center Associate Director Machamma Quinchette.
Quinchette was partly responsible for bring Simmons to Penn, and she said that bringing her in the first place was a risk.
Rape is "an uncomfortable topic... something that shouldn't be described in the open," Quinchette said. She added that the aim of bringing Simmons was "to help educate people about this" crime.
In her documentary, Simmons suggested education and greater male intervention as effective tools in reducing rape, again striking a chord with her audience.
"Men who do not rape have to challenge men who do," Gay said.
"We definitely need to reach back and talk to younger girls and teenage girls," Lacey said.
